News reaching different casino outlets hint that on Friday Peninsula Pacific Entertainment announced its plan to try and gain full ownership of Iowa’s Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City. The Los Angeles based company already owns half of the establishment. If approved by regulators it will also purchase the remaining 50 percent from Warner Gaming – also a Los Angeles based company- giving it the controlling power of the establishment.
It has not been disclosed how much the transaction will cost Peninsula Pacific. In a statement by the ‘to be owner’, the transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2020. No one is expected to lose their job during the transition.
In 2013, the executives at Peninsula Pacific and Warner Gaming had come together in the creation of the Hard Rock proposal. They later applied for a license that was approved by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission in April 2013.
This was not without competition from other companies that also wanted the license, Penn National Gaming and Ho-Chunk included. Later on, they joined hands with Missouri River Historical Development, which is the company that owns the Hard Rock’s gaming license. In 2014, the 125.5 million dollars’ worth property opened its doors.
In a statement, M. Brent Stevens, chairman of Peninsula Pacific said that the establishment will be in great hands. They plan on extensively growing the property and ensuring they involve the community in this growth. Iowa passed a law that allows betting on sports, college sports included.
According to a news post by the casino.org, the law took effect on 15th August and since then casinos have noticed an increase in the gambling activities, this is as per to the president of Iowa Gaming Association, Wes Ehrecke. If the report is accurate it would mean a charge in many things, an increase in revenues to both the casino and the government – in the form of taxes.
Hard rock is a state of the art venue. Its casino has not less than 800 slot machines and 26 tables for games. It also has 3 restaurants, a hotel with 54 rooms and entertainment spaces inside and outside. On top of it all, it has some 15,000 square feet of retail space to lease out, though not yet leased. This is of cause not to count the four-story garage worth 10.9 million dollars it recently opened.
Hard Rock owns other casinos in Hollywood, Tampa, Florida, Biloxi, Mississippi, New Jersey and two in Canada. Recently, it was selected to be in charge of a casino in Bristol, Virginia speculated to be worth 250 million dollars.
It is also speculated to have joined hands with Spectacle Entertainment to build a casino in Gary, Indiana worth 300 million dollars. Yet another casino by Hard Rock is set to be built in Rockford, Illinois. Peninsula Pacific also runs casinos in other parts of the world including New York, Louisiana, Virginia, and the Hamptons.
